I’m all for recycling, using less electricity, organic foods, etc., but this is just overboard. NBC has gone green this week, which is fine. It is great to show people how think responsibly and develop a love for the earth we are here to care for. But it all comes down to execution, and this one as way off.
NBC’s way of showing what is environmentally responsible was to do the Sunday Night Football halftime show in the dark. You think I’m kidding. I’m not. Watch the video.
We got a kick out of it as they had candles going and glow sticks, and Matt Laurer was up in the Arctic Circle freezing his behind off – also in the dark. How reminiscent of Jimmy Carter.
It is kind of funny in one of those sad ways. You know, where someone tries too hard and blows it. Like the guy in Swingers who leaves 7 messages on the answering machine of a girl he just met. Self implosion.
Seriously, what is the message here? That I should sit in the dark too? Sorry NBC. I want to care; I really do, but you guys have got to get a grip on reality here.
November 12, 2007 at 1:58 pm
well, i watched the video. yeah, i had the same response. it isn’t necessarily informative. it doesn’t have tips/tools to be ‘more green.’ what is it meant to do, except give a little chuckle?
you know, it chaps my hide when we care more about the polar bears dying than we do starving children. don’t get me wrong, i like white cuddly polar bears.
i’d like NBC to do a clip about the value of a polar bear’s soul v. the value of a starving 6 year old in Sudan.
November 15, 2007 at 9:26 am
[...] first of the ads, entitled “Common,” will debut during NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football on November 25th. The Partnership will also feature multiple levels of advertising, marketing and [...]
November 15, 2007 at 10:33 am
I echo Karen’s perception on the matter.
I think people want to show they care about something without having to put in a lot of emotional effort. Whatever the psychological pow-pow would come up with a lot of people find it easier to care about animals then they do human life.
November 17, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Do you think environmental issues are really about animals at the expense of people?
I strongly disagree. Biologically speaking, humans are just one more species of animal, and the environment impacts humans just as much as it impacts everyone else.
Clean water is an environmental issue. So is sanitation. How many people are sick from pollution, and how many of them are disproportionately in poorer parts of the globe? We depend on healthy plants and animals for food and clothing. And for it to do us (and our children and childrens’ children) any good, it all has to be sustainable.
If you really had to choose between polar bears and children in Sudan, you pick children, sure. But I think only the most myopic outlook frames the debate that way. If we rape the earth to suit our needs now, what good is it going to be for those Sudanese kids?